The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

Dramatis Personae

JULIUS CAESAR, Roman statesman and general

OCTAVIUS, Triumvir after Caesar's death, later Augustus Caesar, first emperor of Rome

MARK ANTONY, general and friend of Caesar, a Triumvir after his death

LEPIDUS, third member of the Triumvirate

MARCUS BRUTUS, leader of the conspiracy against Caesar

CASSIUS, instigator of the conspiracy

CASCA, conspirator against Caesar

TREBONIUS, " " "

CAIUS LIGARIUS, " " "

DECIUS BRUTUS, " " "

METELLUS CIMBER, " " "

CINNA, " " "

CALPURNIA, wife of Caesar

PORTIA, wife of Brutus

CICERO, senator

POPILIUS, "

POPILIUS LENA, "

FLAVIUS, tribune

MARULLUS, tribune

CATO, supportor of Brutus

LUCILIUS, " " "

TITINIUS, " " "

MESSALA, " " "

VOLUMNIUS, " " "

ARTEMIDORUS, a teacher of rhetoric

CINNA, a poet

VARRO, servant to Brutus

CLITUS, " " "

CLAUDIO, " " "

STRATO, " " "

LUCIUS, " " "

DARDANIUS, " " "

PINDARUS, servant to Cassius

The Ghost of Caesar

A Soothsayer

A Poet

Senators, Citizens, Soldiers, Commoners, Messengers, and Servants

SCENE: Rome, the conspirators' camp near Sardis, and the plains of Philippi

ACT I. SCENE I. Rome. A street

Enter Flavius, Marullus, and certain Commoners.

  FLAVIUS. Hence, home, you idle creatures, get you home.    Is this a holiday? What, know you not,    Being mechanical, you ought not walk    Upon a laboring day without the sign    Of your profession? Speak, what trade art thou?  FIRST COMMONER. Why, sir, a carpenter.  MARULLUS. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule?    What dost thou with thy best apparel on?    You, sir, what trade are you?  SECOND COMMONER. Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am    but, as you would say, a cobbler.  MARULLUS. But what trade art thou? Answer me directly.  SECOND COMMONER. A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with asafe    conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.  MARULLUS. What trade, thou knave? Thou naughty knave, whattrade?  SECOND COMMONER. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me;yet,    if you be out, sir, I can mend you.  MARULLUS. What mean'st thou by that? Mend me, thou saucyfellow!  SECOND COMMONER. Why, sir, cobble you.  FLAVIUS. Thou art a cobbler, art thou?  SECOND COMMONER. Truly, Sir, all that I live by is with theawl; I    meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, butwith    awl. I am indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they arein    great danger, I recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon    neat's leather have gone upon my handiwork.  FLAVIUS. But wherefore art not in thy shop today?    Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?  SECOND COMMONER. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes to getmyself    into more work. But indeed, sir, we make holiday to seeCaesar    and to rejoice in his triumph.  MARULLUS. Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?    What tributaries follow him to Rome    To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels?    You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!    O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,    Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft    Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements,    To towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops,    Your infants in your arms, and there have sat    The livelong day with patient expectation    To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome.    And when you saw his chariot but appear,    Have you not made an universal shout    That Tiber trembled underneath her banks    To hear the replication of your sounds    Made in her concave shores?    And do you now put on your best attire?    And do you now cull out a holiday?    And do you now strew flowers in his way    That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?    Be gone!    Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,    Pray to the gods to intermit the plague    That needs must light on this ingratitude.  FLAVIUS. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault,    Assemble all the poor men of your sort,    Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears    Into the channel, till the lowest stream    Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.Exeunt all Commoners    See whether their basest metal be not moved;    They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.    Go you down that way towards the Capitol;    This way will I. Disrobe the images    If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies.  MARULLUS. May we do so?    You know it is the feast of Lupercal.  FLAVIUS. It is no matter; let no images    Be hung with Caesar's trophies. I'll about    And drive away the vulgar from the streets;    So do you too, where you perceive them thick.    These growing feathers pluck'd from Caesar's wing    Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,    Who else would soar above the view of men    And keep us all in servile fearfulness. Exeunt.

SCENE II. A public place

Flourish. Enter Caesar; Antony, for the course; Calpurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, and Casca; a great crowd follows, among them a Soothsayer.

  CAESAR. Calpurnia!  CASCA. Peace, ho! Caesar speaks.                                                   Music ceases.  CAESAR. Calpurnia!  CALPURNIA. Here, my lord.  CAESAR. Stand you directly in Antonio's way,    When he doth run his course. Antonio!  ANTONY. Caesar, my lord?  CAESAR. Forget not in your speed, Antonio,    To touch Calpurnia, for our elders say    The barren, touched in this holy chase,    Shake off their sterile curse.  ANTONY. I shall remember.    When Caesar says "Do this," it is perform'd.  CAESAR. Set on, and leave no ceremony out. Flourish.  SOOTHSAYER. Caesar!  CAESAR. Ha! Who calls?  CASCA. Bid every noise be still. Peace yet again!  CAESAR. Who is it in the press that calls on me?    I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,    Cry "Caesar." Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear.  SOOTHSAYER. Beware the ides of March.  CAESAR. What man is that?  BRUTUS. A soothsayer you beware the ides of March.  CAESAR. Set him before me let me see his face.  CASSIUS. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.  CAESAR. What say'st thou to me now? Speak once again.  SOOTHSAYER. Beware the ides of March.  CAESAR. He is a dreamer; let us leave him. Pass.                      Sennet. Exeunt all but Brutus and Cassius.  CASSIUS. Will you go see the order of the course?  BRUTUS. Not I.  CASSIUS. I pray you, do.  BRUTUS. I am not gamesome; I do lack some part    Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.    Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;    I'll leave you.  CASSIUS. Brutus, I do observe you now of late;    I have not from your eyes that gentleness    And show of love as I was wont to have;    You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand    Over your friend that loves you.  BRUTUS. Cassius,    Be not deceived; if I have veil'd my look,    I turn the trouble of my countenance    Merely upon myself. Vexed I am    Of late with passions of some difference,    Conceptions only proper to myself,    Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviors;    But let not therefore my good friends be grieved-    Among which number, Cassius, be you one-    Nor construe any further my neglect    Than that poor Brutus with himself at war    Forgets the shows of love to other men.  CASSIUS. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion,    By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried    Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.    Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?  BRUTUS. No, Cassius, for the eye sees not itself    But by reflection, by some other things.  CASSIUS. 'Tis just,    And it is very much lamented, Brutus,    That you have no such mirrors as will turn    Your hidden worthiness into your eye    That you might see your shadow. I have heard    Where many of the best respect in Rome,    Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus    And groaning underneath this age's yoke,    Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.  BRUTUS. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius,    That you would have me seek into myself    For that which is not in me?  CASSIUS. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear,    And since you know you cannot see yourself    So well as by reflection, I your glass    Will modestly discover to yourself    That of yourself which you yet know not of.    And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus;    Were I a common laugher, or did use    To stale with ordinary oaths my love    To every new protester, if you know    That I do fawn on men and hug them hard    And after scandal them, or if you know    That I profess myself in banqueting    To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.                                             Flourish and shout.  BRUTUS. What means this shouting? I do fear the people    Choose Caesar for their king.  CASSIUS. Ay, do you fear it?    Then must I think you would not have it so.  BRUTUS. I would not, Cassius, yet I love him well.    But wherefore do you hold me here so long?    What is it that you would impart to me?    If it be aught toward the general good,    Set honor in one eye and death i' the other    And I will look on both indifferently.    For let the gods so speed me as I love    The name of honor more than I fear death.  CASSIUS. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,    As well as I do know your outward favor.    Well, honor is the subject of my story.    I cannot tell what you and other men    Think of this life, but, for my single self,    I had as lief not be as live to be    In awe of such a thing as I myself.    I was born free as Caesar, so were you;    We both have fed as well, and we can both    Endure the winter's cold as well as he.    For once, upon a raw and gusty day,    The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,    Caesar said to me, "Darest thou, Cassius, now    Leap in with me into this angry flood    And swim to yonder point?" Upon the word,    Accoutred as I was, I plunged in    And bade him follow. So indeed he did.    The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it    With lusty sinews, throwing it aside    And stemming it with hearts of controversy.    But ere we could arrive the point proposed,    Caesar cried, "Help me, Cassius, or I sink!    I, as Aeneas our great ancestor    Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder    The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber    Did I the tired Caesar. And this man    Is now become a god, and Cassius is    A wretched creature and must bend his body    If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.    He had a fever when he was in Spain,    And when the fit was on him I did mark    How he did shake. 'Tis true, this god did shake;    His coward lips did from their color fly,    And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world    Did lose his luster. I did hear him groan.    Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans    Mark him and write his speeches in their books,    Alas, it cried, "Give me some drink, Titinius,"    As a sick girl. Ye gods! It doth amaze me    A man of such a feeble temper should    So get the start of the majestic world    And bear the palm alone. Shout. Flourish.  BRUTUS. Another general shout!    I do believe that these applauses are    For some new honors that are heap'd on Caesar.  CASSIUS. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world    Like a Colossus, and we petty men    Walk under his huge legs and peep about    To find ourselves dishonorable graves.    Men at some time are masters of their fates:    The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,    But in ourselves that we are underlings.    Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that "Caesar"?    Why should that name be sounded more than yours?    Write them together, yours is as fair a name;    Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;    Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em,    "Brutus" will start a spirit as soon as "Caesar."    Now, in the names of all the gods at once,    Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed    That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!    Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!    When went there by an age since the great flood    But it was famed with more than with one man?    When could they say till now that talk'd of Rome    That her wide walls encompass'd but one man?    Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough,    When there is in it but one only man.    O, you and I have heard our fathers say    There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd    The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome    As easily as a king.  BRUTUS. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;    What you would work me to, I have some aim.    How I have thought of this and of these times,    I shall recount hereafter; for this present,    I would not, so with love I might entreat you,    Be any further moved. What you have said    I will consider; what you have to say    I will with patience hear, and find a time    Both meet to hear and answer such high things.    Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:    Brutus had rather be a villager    Than to repute himself a son of Rome    Under these hard conditions as this time    Is like to lay upon us.  CASSIUS. I am glad that my weak words    Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.

Re-enter Caesar and his Train.

  BRUTUS. The games are done, and Caesar is returning.  CASSIUS. As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve,    And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you    What hath proceeded worthy note today.  BRUTUS. I will do so. But, look you, Cassius,    The angry spot doth glow on Caesar's brow,    And all the rest look like a chidden train:    Calpurnia's cheek is pale, and Cicero    Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes    As we have seen him in the Capitol,    Being cross'd in conference by some senators.  CASSIUS. Casca will tell us what the matter is.  CAESAR. Antonio!  ANTONY. Caesar?  CAESAR. Let me have men about me that are fat,    Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights:    Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;    He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.  ANTONY. Fear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous;    He is a noble Roman and well given.  CAESAR. Would he were fatter! But I fear him not,    Yet if my name were liable to fear,    I do not know the man I should avoid    So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much,    He is a great observer, and he looks    Quite through the deeds of men. He loves no plays,    As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;    Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort    As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit    That could be moved to smile at anything.    Such men as he be never at heart's ease    Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,    And therefore are they very dangerous.    I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd    Than what I fear, for always I am Caesar.    Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,    And tell me truly what thou think'st of him.              Sennet. Exeunt Caesar and all his Train but Casca.  CASCA. You pull'd me by the cloak; would you speak with me?  BRUTUS. Ay, Casca, tell us what hath chanced today    That Caesar looks so sad.  CASCA. Why, you were with him, were you not?  BRUTUS. I should not then ask Casca what had chanced.  CASCA. Why, there was a crown offered him, and being offeredhim,     he put it by with the back of his hand, thus, and then the     people fell ashouting.  BRUTUS. What was the second noise for?  CASCA. Why, for that too.  CASSIUS. They shouted thrice. What was the last cry for?  CASCA. Why, for that too.  BRUTUS. Was the crown offered him thrice?  CASCA. Ay, marry, wast, and he put it by thrice, every timegentler    than other, and at every putting by mine honest neighbors    shouted.  CASSIUS. Who offered him the crown?  CASCA. Why, Antony.  BRUTUS. Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca.  CASCA. I can as well be hang'd as tell the manner of it. It was    mere foolery; I did not mark it. I saw Mark Antony offer hima    crown (yet 'twas not a crown neither, 'twas one of these    coronets) and, as I told you, he put it by once. But for all    that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it. Then heoffered    it to him again; then he put it by again. But, to mythinking, he    was very loath to lay his fingers off it. And then he offeredit    the third time; he put it the third time by; and still as he    refused it, the rabblement hooted and clapped their choppedhands    and threw up their sweaty nightcaps and uttered such a dealof    stinking breath because Caesar refused the crown that it had    almost choked Caesar, for he swounded and fell down at it.And    for mine own part, I durst not laugh for fear of opening mylips    and receiving the bad air.  CASSIUS. But, soft, I pray you, what, did Caesars wound?  CASCA. He fell down in the marketplace and foamed at mouth andwas    speechless.  BRUTUS. 'Tis very like. He hath the falling sickness.  CASSIUS. No, Caesar hath it not, but you, and I,    And honest Casca, we have the falling sickness.  CASCA. I know not what you mean by that, but I am sure Caesarfell    down. If the tagrag people did not clap him and hiss him    according as he pleased and displeased them, as they use todo    the players in the theatre, I am no true man.  BRUTUS. What said he when he came unto himself?  CASCA. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceived the common    herd was glad he refused the crown, he plucked me ope hisdoublet    and offered them his throat to cut. An had been a man of any    occupation, if I would not have taken him at a word, I wouldI    might go to hell among the rogues. And so he fell. When hecame    to himself again, he said, if he had done or said anythingamiss,    he desired their worships to think it was his infirmity.Three or    four wenches where I stood cried, "Alas, good soul!" andforgave    him with all their hearts. But there's no heed to be taken of    them; if Caesar had stabbed their mothers, they would havedone    no less.  BRUTUS. And after that he came, thus sad, away?  CASCA. Ay.  CASSIUS. Did Cicero say anything?  CASCA. Ay, he spoke Greek.  CASSIUS. To what effect?  CASCA. Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face    again; but those that understood him smiled at one anotherand    shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me.I    could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, forpulling    scarfs off Caesar's images, are put to silence. Fare youwell.    There was more foolery yet, if could remember it.  CASSIUS. Will you sup with me tonight, Casca?  CASCA. No, I am promised forth.  CASSIUS. Will you dine with me tomorrow?  CASCA. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinnerworth    the eating.  CASSIUS. Good, I will expect you.  CASCA. Do so, farewell, both. Exit.  BRUTUS. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be!    He was quick mettle when he went to school.  CASSIUS. So is he now in execution    Of any bold or noble enterprise,    However he puts on this tardy form.    This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,    Which gives men stomach to digest his words    With better appetite.  BRUTUS. And so it is. For this time I will leave you.    Tomorrow, if you please to speak with me,    I will come home to you, or, if you will,    Come home to me and I will wait for you.  CASSIUS. I will do so. Till then, think of the world.Exit Brutus    Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see    Thy honorable mettle may be wrought    From that it is disposed; therefore it is meet    That noble minds keep ever with their likes;    For who so firm that cannot be seduced?    Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus.    If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius,    He should not humor me. I will this night,    In several hands, in at his windows throw,    As if they came from several citizens,    Writings, all tending to the great opinion    That Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely    Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at.    And after this let Caesar seat him sure;    For we will shake him, or worse days endure. Exit.

SCENE III. A street. Thunder and lightning

Enter, from opposite sides, Casca, with his sword drawn, and Cicero.

  CICERO. Good even, Casca. Brought you Caesar home?    Why are you breathless, and why stare you so?  CASCA. Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth    Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero,    I have seen tempests when the scolding winds    Have rived the knotty oaks, and I have seen    The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam    To be exalted with the threatening clouds,    But never till tonight, never till now,    Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.    Either there is a civil strife in heaven,    Or else the world too saucy with the gods    Incenses them to send destruction.  CICERO. Why, saw you anything more wonderful?  CASCA. A common slave- you know him well by sight-    Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn    Like twenty torches join'd, and yet his hand    Not sensible of fire remain'd unscorch'd.    Besides- I ha' not since put up my sword-    Against the Capitol I met a lion,    Who glaz'd upon me and went surly by    Without annoying me. And there were drawn    Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women    Transformed with their fear, who swore they saw    Men all in fire walk up and down the streets.    And yesterday the bird of night did sit    Even at noonday upon the marketplace,    Howling and shrieking. When these prodigies    Do so conjointly meet, let not men say    "These are their reasons; they are natural":    For I believe they are portentous things    Unto the climate that they point upon.  CICERO. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time.    But men may construe things after their fashion,    Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.    Comes Caesar to the Capitol tomorrow?  CASCA. He doth, for he did bid Antonio    Send word to you he would be there tomorrow.  CICERO. Good then, Casca. This disturbed sky    Is not to walk in.  CASCA. Farewell, Cicero. Exit Cicero.

Enter Cassius.

  CASSIUS. Who's there?  CASCA. A Roman.  CASSIUS. Casca, by your voice.  CASCA. Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this!  CASSIUS. A very pleasing night to honest men.  CASCA. Who ever knew the heavens menace so?  CASSIUS. Those that have known the earth so full of faults.    For my part, I have walk'd about the streets,    Submitting me unto the perilous night,    And thus unbraced, Casca, as you see,    Have bared my bosom to the thunderstone;    And when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open    The breast of heaven, I did present myself    Even in the aim and very flash of it.  CASCA. But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens?    It is the part of men to fear and tremble    When the most mighty gods by tokens send    Such dreadful heralds to astonish us.  CASSIUS. You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life    That should be in a Roman you do want,    Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze    And put on fear and cast yourself in wonder    To see the strange impatience of the heavens.    But if you would consider the true cause    Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts,    Why birds and beasts from quality and kind,    Why old men, fools, and children calculate,    Why all these things change from their ordinance,    Their natures, and preformed faculties    To monstrous quality, why, you shall find    That heaven hath infused them with these spirits    To make them instruments of fear and warning    Unto some monstrous state.    Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man    Most like this dreadful night,    That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars    As doth the lion in the Capitol,    A man no mightier than thyself or me    In personal action, yet prodigious grown    And fearful, as these strange eruptions are.  CASCA. 'Tis Caesar that you mean, is it not, Cassius?  CASSIUS. Let it be who it is, for Romans now    Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors.    But, woe the while! Our fathers' minds are dead,    And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits;    Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.  CASCA. Indeed they say the senators tomorrow    Mean to establish Caesar as a king,    And he shall wear his crown by sea and land    In every place save here in Italy.  CASSIUS. I know where I will wear this dagger then:    Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius.    Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong;    Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat.    Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,    Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron    Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;    But life, being weary of these worldly bars,    Never lacks power to dismiss itself.    If I know this, know all the world besides,    That part of tyranny that I do bear    I can shake off at pleasure. Thunder still.  CASCA. So can I.    So every bondman in his own hand bears    The power to cancel his captivity.  CASSIUS. And why should Caesar be a tyrant then?    Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf    But that he sees the Romans are but sheep.    He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.    Those that with haste will make a mighty fire    Begin it with weak straws. What trash is Rome,    What rubbish, and what offal, when it serves    For the base matter to illuminate    So vile a thing as Caesar? But, O grief,    Where hast thou led me? I perhaps speak this    Before a willing bondman; then I know    My answer must be made. But I am arm'd,    And dangers are to me indifferent.  CASCA. You speak to Casca, and to such a man    That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand.    Be factious for redress of all these griefs,    And I will set this foot of mine as far    As who goes farthest.  CASSIUS. There's a bargain made.    Now know you, Casca, I have moved already    Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans    To undergo with me an enterprise    Of honorable-dangerous consequence;    And I do know by this, they stay for me    In Pompey's Porch. For now, this fearful night,    There is no stir or walking in the streets,    And the complexion of the element    In favor's like the work we have in hand,    Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.

Enter Cinna.